Ultimatums
by KWalkerSolo
Summary: Season 2 AU: Rick sees something he wished he didn't and now he's finally had enough. What happens when he's given an Ultimatum, in turn giving Beckett her own Ultimatum.


**A/N: I'm back with a new story, this is something that has been playing on my mind, something I wish could have happened. So let's pretend that Castle never slept with Ellie Monroe and that Beckett did not want to listen to Castle's theories because she was to caught up with Demming and kept leaving Castle out of the loop. Takes place just after Castle and Demming(ugh) talk at the end of episode 23. Enjoy... I don't own Castle, if I did a lot of things would not have happened the way it did.**

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After the awkward encounter with Demming in the break room, Richard Castle left to continue his search for Detective Beckett. He wanted to congratulate her on cracking the case despite everything that happened these past few days, he was still a good man that had a good heart after all.

He walked around the precinct, looking into each room that he passed, hoping to at least spot a hint of her, but with no luck, he found Esposito and Ryan sitting and eating in the conference room that had the murder board from the case they were working on in it.

"One murder, two killers that's something you don't see every day," Ryan said to Esposito as he put up the two pictures of the murderers before sitting down to take a bit of his slice of pizza.

"Yeah, that's definitely something for the record books," Esposito said before he threw the scrunched up yellow paper ball into the mini trash can as Castle walked in. He did a mini celebration as they both turned to look at Rick.

Castle smiled at their antics "Have you guys seen Beckett? I wanted to congratulate her she's the one that cracked this one open."

Esposito pointed behind Castle before Ryan replied, "I think she's in the back processing charges" Ryan and Esposito grabbed another paper ball to throw into the mini trash can.

"Thanks, guys," Rick said before turning to head out the door.

Just before he left Esposito called out to him "Hey Castle, want a slice of pizza man, we have extra" He said before throwing the paper ball but missing the area.

"No thanks boys, I'm gonna have to take a raincheck on that one," Rick replied before walking quickly to find Beckett.

"Okay more for us bro," Esposito said while they both chuckled at his quick exit.

As Ryan was about to throw his paper ball, he had a thoughtful expression on his face, "Don't you think he was upset with what Beckett did to him these past few days" He asked Esposito.

"Yeah he looked like a lost puppy dog for most of it, we all know he's in love with her and she's been too caught up with Demming to even realize it. It sucks you know because she pushed him away these two weeks, I hate to see Dad like this." Esposito replied after taking a bite of his pizza slice.

"I hate that Mom even met Demming, I mean we were doing so well without him here, now he just had to ruin everything," Ryan said as he tossed the paper ball and it landed in the bin. "Oh dude, I'm so winning right now," He said in glee.

"I agree to Kev, but there's nothing we can do about it right now if Mom is happy we should be happy. She is the boss after all even if she's not with Castle." Esposito replied he threw another paper ball into the bin, "Yes! Now we're even,"

Castle walked towards the back and turned right, where spotted a vice on the left, sitting by the desk doing paperwork, he heard the familiar sound of Beckett's work heels sliding across the wooden floor. _Yeah, I know the sound of her shoes, that isn't creepy at all,_ Rick thought to himself. He turned his head right and saw Beckett coming out of the room, stopping near the door, as she was still speaking to someone inside the room. _She still looks stunning even after the eventful workday we had._ It brought a small smile to his face, as he walked towards her. Rick stopped dead in his tracks, a few feet when he noticed her grabbing a hand from inside the room and Demming leaning forward, saying something that made her smile.

The smile dropped off his face, and when Demming stepped forward, putting his other hand on her waist and leaned in to meet her for a kiss. The first sensation Castle felt was his heart taking a free fall into his chest but instead of being caught in a net, it was like a crystal that shattered violently yet silently as it landed hard, into cosmic shards that were an intense pain of both burning and freezing. The hot-icy shards resulted in the wind being knocked out of him feeling. Then when he noticed Beckett willingly kiss back, it was then he felt as if he swallowed 100 swords at once, cutting the inside as it slipped through his broken chest, before it fell on top of the cosmic shards splitting it even more.

 _After all this time? After all, we've been through? This is what I get after shadowing her for the past two years and despite the banter and flirtation she didn't notice my feelings for her, I guess it was the reason why she has been acting the way she did these past few days. I thought she would at least be professional and not kiss him at the precinct but no, I was wrong._ Rick thought angrily, and instead of standing there and looking like a fish out of the water, he spun on his heels and headed the out the way he came to leave the precinct, a defeated look gracing his features.

Beckett heard the squeak of someone's polished shoes sliding across the floor. She broke the kiss, to look up and see if someone was there but she only caught the tail end of a black suit blazer. Not thinking anything about it, she smiled at Demming, "So you'll call me later?" She asked.

"Yes, of course, around 10 will that be fine?" He asked. She nodded her head and walked away, heading towards her desk while Tom went back to his desk on the Robbery floor, putting her hand towards her mouth, she felt giddy after that kiss. _This relationship could actually be going somewhere, wow it's been a while since I've felt this way._

Rick decided that he could have one last coffee from the espresso machine before he left, and took a shortcut to the break room, as soon as he entered, he spotted Kate walking past through the window. He did a double take at the happy smile on her face and because he had not expected to see her so soon. Quickly averting his gaze so that he did not get caught staring, he went towards the coffee machine, grabbing a cup from the top, switching it on and placing the cup underneath to receive the coffee.

Kate glanced into the break room as she was walking pass, and saw Castle making coffee her smile dropped a bit as she did not know he was still here and when she remembered what happened these two weeks and despite it all, he stuck it out and helped to solve the murder with them. She went to the entrance of the break room and started fiddling with the silver bracelet she was wearing. "Castle?" He looked at her with acknowledgement "What are you still doing here?" she asked him.

"Oh, hey, I was just about to leave myself. Good job on closing the case," He said in a monotonous tone.

"Yeah well, we make a good team," Beckett said referring to them and Tom included with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Castle said realizing that she included Demming when she had said that and gave her a small smile, not wanting to hear more. "Goodbye"

"Goodnight," She said with a small wave and started walking away until his words to her sank in. _Wait! Castle never says 'Goodbye' it's always until tomorrow or something more extravagant but never Goodbye._ Kate turned around and started walking back to the break room when she saw Rick glaring daggers at his cup of coffee.

"Ah Detective, what can I help you with?" Castle said quickly when he saw her back by the door, not bothering to look up at her again he put sugar in his coffee and was stirring it slowly, waiting for her response.

"You said 'Goodbye'" She replied in a flat tone, a frown appearing on her face.

"Goodbye, is a perfectly acceptable valediction Detective," Still not bothering to look up at her,

"Castle, why did you say goodbye?" Beckett said demanding a better answer.

"I just told you, Detective, goodbye is a perfectly acceptable valedic—" Castle said but was cut off

"— I don't care about that being an acceptable valediction, why did you say it?" she asked him again. "You never, told me goodbye before, so tell me Castle, why did you say it?" She said repeating her question.

"Because I wanted to, why do you care so much," Rick asked nonchalantly still not looking up and taking a sip of his coffee.

"You always tell me until tomorrow, or some other way, because you once said 'goodnight' was boring because you're a writer and until tomorrow sounds more hopeful. Now you don't sound hopeful, it sounds like you're disappointed." Beckett said stepping closer to him staring intently at his face.

"Disappointed? No Detective, I'm not disappointed, I knew it was coming, and I guess, I tried to convince myself that it was not true and that maybe just maybe I had a chance, a chance to prove..." Castle said looking at her for the first time since she entered, he saw the confused expression that Beckett had.

"A chance to prove what Castle?" She asked wanting him to complete what he was saying. _Why is he only calling me detective? it's usually Beckett or even Kate, he only calls me detective when he is teasing me or really upset, and he couldn't look me in the eye until now, so he properly wasn't teasing, that means that he is upset, but what caused it?_

"Nothing, don't worry Detective, let me get out of your hair so you can leave for the night," Rick said, leaving his coffee on the table, quickly rushing towards the elevator to leave.

"Castle wait!" Beckett said but he didn't turn around when he reached the elevator and pressed the button for it to open. Once he got inside and turned around he had a blank expression as he looked at Kate who was standing by the door of the break room, she still had a confused look on her face, but she was looking straight at him. He pressed the button to take him to the ground floor of the precinct so that he could leave, still looking at her as the doors closed.

 _What the hell just happened!_ Kate thought as she walked back to her desk to grab her stuff. The steaming hot cup full of coffee was left lying on the table, waiting to be drunk.

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 **A/N, okay yes I know I followed the episode closely but I needed to start somewhere, so I added a bit more to it and this is what I got. Read/Review as the new chapter explaining the changes will come soon.**


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